Sympathy, for one whose loneliness must be even greater than his own; an ennui produced by ages of repetition; and an impish sense of fun—these were the discordant factors that prompted Khedron to act.

1990 — Terry Pratchett, Eric, p 165

Now and again screams of ennui rose from between the potted plants, but mainly there was the terrible numbing silence of the human brain being reduced to cream cheese from the inside out.

Translations

Japanese: つれづれ (tsurezure)

Related Terms

ennuyer

ennuyeux

Blithe

(dated or literary) Happy, cheerful.

Indifferent, careless, showing a lack of concern.

She had a blithe disregard of cultures outside the United States.

Positiveblithe

Comparativeblither

Superlative
blithest

Symbiotic

of, or relating to symbiosis; living together, often for mutual benefit. adj

Malaise

Noun

a feeling of general bodily discomfort or unpleasantness, often at the onset of illness

an ambiguous feeling of mental or moral depression

Synonyms

doldrums

melancholy

unease

Compunction (plural compunctions)

A pricking of conscience, a slight regret

He pulled the trigger without compunction.

Quotations

1897: I felt no compunction in doing so, for under the circumstances I felt that I should protect myself in every way I could. — Dracula, Bram Stoker

Synonyms

regret, remorse

See Also

contrition

penitence, penance

guilt

Pithy

Precisely meaningful; forceful and brief

concise and full of meaning

tersely cogent

Synonyms

terse

concise

laconic

TERMS AND PHRASES

Persona non grata (plural personae non gratae)

A person who is not welcome, especially a diplomat in a foreign country

Lumpenproletariat

The lumpenproletariat (German Lumpenproletariat, “rabble-proletariat”; “raggedy proletariat”) is a term originally defined by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in The German Ideology (1845), their famous second joint work, and later expounded upon in future works by Marx. In Marx’s The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Napoleon (1852), the term refers to the ‘refuse of all classes,’ including ‘swindlers, confidence tricksters, brothel-keepers, rag-and-bone merchants, organ-grinders, beggars, and other flotsam of society.’

Dystopia

A dystopia (alternatively, cacotopia, kakotopia or anti-utopia) is a fictional society that is the antithesis of utopia.

A dystopia is usually characterized by an authoritarian or totalitarian form of government, or some other kind of oppressive social control.